She's Here!

At 8:13 AM on January 27th of 2009, Rebecca Marlee Pastorius was brought kicking and screaming into this big scary world. She weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs. 14 oz and measured 20 3/4 inches long. Here's a photo, more to come later!

The Belly Game - "ROUND TWO"

Hey kids!
Back for more?

Let's play round two:
Can you identify these bellies???

(Sesame Street music playing ... "one of these kids is doing her own thing, two of these kids are kinda the same ... can you guess which kid is doin' her own thing ... now it's time to play our game ... it's time to play our game")



If you guessed that "Melanie" is sporting the exotic tiger stripes ... YOU'RE RIGHT !!
Who need stripy undies when you can have a whole stripy belly?!? (I think it may catch on in Hollywood)

And now ... the BONUS ROUND!
Be sure to put in your vote for the date of "The Big Event"

The Baby's Room

The baby's room, formerly known as Bill's room, was a complete disaster!!!!! We had boxes and bags and gifts and toys and random wall-to-wall chaos. There was no way we could fix this problem with Bill working 11hr/day, 6 days/week and me unable to even tie my own shoe laces!

Help us Sarah and Alicia ... you're our only hope!

(Bravo to anyone who got that reference!) So as I mentioned Sarah and Alicia came down for a visit - or so they thought. Ha! Once trapped in the confines of our apartment they were forced into slave labor. Little did I know that the tables would soon turn!



These two girls honestly worked their butts off!!! I've never seen anything like it in all my days. They're MACHINES!!!! In three short days, they whipped this place into shape! Sarah is well into pregnancy herself, and under the control of some powerful hormones she morphed into Super-Sarah ... able to leap small buildings in a single bound!!! (I remember being Super-Melanie in the second trimester) At one point Alicia and I gave up for the night, but Sarah was still going strong despite our urgings for her to give it up. We were exhausted just watching her! Geesh!

We elicited Bill's help with assembling the crib one day before he went to work. With the four of us chipping in, it was a piece of cake! Well ... okay ... to be honest, I just read the instruction manual, supervised, and photographed but at least I stayed out of their way so they could work. It was snowing at the time - no I mean IN the apartment. The crib was packed in these little styrofoam balls of evil that exploded all over the room and hallway. After several vacuum jobs, I'm still finding these little monsters everywhere!! Sarah did about a thousand loads of laundry to clean EVERYTHING and prepare for Becca's arrival. In the end, we only had one item MIA. Of course everyone believes that the washer/dryer eats the socks, but I now have a new theory ...
(I dunno - so don't even ask.)

All in all, our efforts were successful. Bill and I definitely couldn't have done it alone. We appreciate Alicia and Sarah SO MUCH for all their help and support. There really are no words adequate enough to express my gratitude. They truly are great friends - there for us no matter what! I thank them for their emotional support as well as their physical labor. And a special thanks should really go to Alicia for dealing with us two pregnant yahoos at the same time. She should get some kind of medal for that alone!!!
Thanks girls!

December News

Now I'm a YEAR late!!!

December was a busy month. So I applied for an Assistant Professor position in the Biology & Environmental Science department at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, WV. I was very excited to be invited for an on-site interview at the college on Dec 3-4. With meetings and lectures and research seminars ahead of me I had a long 2 days! Up until this point, I had neglected to inform them that I was 8 months pregnant. However, a little birdie (ie Sarah) let the news slip down the grapevine that I currently had a temporary medical condition with symptoms including a greatly distended abdomen and a rosy glow. Hahaha! So the people at Wesleyan recognized me right off - particularly the President of the College as she announced during a luncheon (which I crashed!) "I recognize you - you're the one who's 8 months pregnant!" LOL The interview went well and, after some mild negotiations, I have accepted the position they offered. Hooray! Looks like we'll be moving back to WV in a few short months.


The Wesleyan trip would be our last in 2008 - as I was getting close to the "travel restriction" time. So Bill and I were both totally bummed to not be home at Christmas. This is the first Christmas away from family for both of us. Luckily, some angels descended upon us. A few days before Christmas, Cindy and her boyfriend Kevin (yeah girl - I said it - BOYFRIEND!!!) stopped by to stay with us overnight. They were in Asheville, NC (~1hr away) and were nice enough to drive up. It really brightened my holidays. Bill and I had some of his friends over for Christmas Eve dinner. Then the day after Christmas, Sarah and Alicia came to visit (actually "WORK" is more like the truth here). We had a Sal xmas, as Sarah brought down gifs from the family - and then took ours back up north upon her return. Finally, Bill's parents Betty and Clayton stopped by overnight on their way to Myrtle Beach for the annual "honeymoon". With their visit, we had a Pastorius xmas, then sent our gifts for Melissa, Brian, and the girls back with them. The whole thing reminded me of my "birthday hanukkah" celebrations! Haha! With all of our visitors, the holidays didn't seem quite so lonely after all. Thanks everybody for making us feel better! We had a good Christmas.

The Belly Game

Hey everybody!
It's the November edition of The Belly Game!

C'mon - you KNOW you want to play ...



Can you guess who belongs to these bellies???






Okay, I'm the pink stripy one - but you already KNEW that!!! Who are my partners-in-crime??? Give up? Check your answers below!






Thanks for playing!
Stay tuned for the December edition of The Belly Game ... where the choices get harder and the bellies get bigger!

November Happenings

Hello all!
It has been quite some time since we've updated the blog. We are all fine here. I'm still on the stupid diet (boo!) and I have been upgraded to injectible insulin at night (boo! boo!). Bill does a surprisingly good job at giving me injections - too bad he's only done it a few times. I'm not quite so gently with myself and end up bruising. It's not so bad, though - and it's only for a short time. Now I know how the research mice feel!! The baby is getting big. They estimate her at 5lb 8oz which is BIG so far! She moves around well and gets very excited when I eat. (Bet she'd go CRAZY with carbs!)

Okay, so let me go back and hit some highlights from November.

The girls at work had a shower for me. It was so nice to get together for a little party. I was surprised to see Cheryl pull out the Southern Comfort and spike the punch! What kind of party IS this?!? It's okay though, because I'm still on the crazy diet and cannot drink punch with or without alcohol. And since they have a designated driver (ie ME), why not!? This is Jenny, who now shares the lab with me. Her packages are too pretty to open!! Cheryl and Judy made me a beautiful diaper cake with all kinds of useful baby knick-knacks. It, too, is too pretty to disassemble!





Later in November, the girls came down for a visit. We were taking off to Gatlinburg without Bill for a "girl's weekend". I think Bill might have enjoyed his "girl-less weekend" as well. Unfortunately, he had to work. On our girl's weekend, we went to the Aquarium on Saturday and then went to the Dixie Stampede on Sunday. It was a great time! We stayed at a luxurious lodge with a giant tub and fireplace. We were on a mountainside in the Smokies and woke up to a surprise snowfall!!!















Of course we met some fascinating new friends while we were at the lodge. This one was definitely an outdoorsman with a fondness for fish! (And yes, these were absolutely the appropriate pictures to take when other guests are parking their BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes vehicles in the parking lot in front of us. Tehehe!)


In all, I had a super time - as usual with the girls! I was so happy to spend time with the crew. With the exception of Alicia's new-found weight loss plan (ie some kind of stomach flu that began on the trip) I think we all had fun!

And the winner is ...

Well, gang - here it is! The moment you've all been waiting for ...

Thanks to all of you who participated in the sex pool. Hope you had as much fun as we did with it. So, I'm sure you've seen the results of the poll. I'm not surprised that "dork" won by a landslide. Those results will take a while to come in I guess, but I'm inclined to believe that "dork" is a good bet. What I can tell you now is that the X's have it! "It's a girl" She looks healthy by ultrasound and is already quite active. She stubbornly resisted having her picture taken by the ultrasound tech. You'd have though the paparazzi was after her by the way she covered her face with her hands. "No photos, please" After several minutes of trying for a good pic, she had finally had enough and turned all the way over to face away from the ultrasound wand. She must have been embarrassed being photographed without her lucky stripy underpants!

In this pic, we can see baby's profile with her head on the left, looking upward. Her little button nose is easy to spot. She is curled up so you can make out the round baby belly on the right.

Contrary to popular belief - I did not cry right away!! I know this will be hard for you all to believe, but I wasn't overtaken with emotion until nearly the end. Bravo for me! The meltdown is clear on our ultrasound video when you can see the poor child bouncing all around. My fault. Sorry kiddo! It must have been like an amusement park ride for her. Speaking of amusement park rides ... later that same day we all went to Dollywood where three generations of thrill-seekers tamed the wild stallions of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. That's how I remember it at least. Bill was our extreme sports photographer while Dad cheered us on.


Mom and Dad joined us for the whole weekend. I think they enjoyed the visit. It was really good to have them there and it meant so much to me for them to share our big day. Hopefully next time they visit, it will be cooler than 90 degrees outside - and inside the apartment. Welcome to the sauna!!